45 seconds. That’s the difference between Julius Koskei’s seed time compared to over 2,000 runners competing in the 33rd Mercedes-Benz Cotton Row Run.

The 30-year-old runner from Hebron, Kenya, beat everybody else to the finish line. To give you a more dramatic impression, only seven runners were able to keep up with him until one mile into the course. This got cut down to only three upon reaching the base of Mountainwood hill.

Koskei almost trampled on the course record of 29:10 if not breaking the finish line five seconds longer. The sun was high up in the sky and it was really humid, makings things a lot harder than before.

Koskei shares “when I got to the hill, I slowed down. I thought to myself, ‘If I push up this hill, I may die.’ I wanted to have something left for the rest of the race. Once we got to the top, I picked right back up and they all went away.”